


Life's Work / Reason Enough

by miraluka3



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-06-19
Updated: 2005-06-19
Packaged: 2017-12-15 12:29:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/849579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miraluka3/pseuds/miraluka3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inside the head of Kainon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Life's Work

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote these years and years ago. They're not my best work. They're two versions of the same fic; "Reason Enough" is better. These fics take place during the _Star Trek: Deep Space Nine_ episode "Duet," one of my personal favorites. Most of the dialogue is taken directly from the show. I don't think being familiar with the episode is necessary, but Memory Alpha has a [summary](http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Duet_%28episode%29) if you care to read it.

I woke up in my cell, drunk. I usually am these days. I could vaguely recall the brawl at Quark’s last night. It had been one of many that I’ve started in the past weeks, and this certainly wasn’t the first time I’d woken up in detention.

But something was different this time. I heard voices, strange voices. One appeared to be human. The other… no, it couldn’t be… but it was, it was Cardassian. I couldn’t believe it. Suddenly, someone new spoke and I realized it was me.

“Am I still drunk, or am I in jail with a _Cardassian_?” The shock penetrated through the stupor of drunkenness I had been in. A Cardassian, here, on Deep Space 9, practically in my home. How _dare_ he be here?

“Odo,” I called, “you’re not keeping me in here with one of those! Odo! Odo!” The security chief didn’t answer my calls. Why didn’t he answer? I needed to get out of this cell. I couldn’t bear to be with this monster a moment more. This monster…

The memories came rushing back once more, the memories I had tried to suppress for the past year. Memories of my wife, my children. _No_ , I thought, _Nononononononono!_ “No…,” I moaned as I thankfully drifted off to sleep.

***

The next morning I woke up with a feeling of unease. At first, I couldn’t figure out why. I mean, there wasn’t anything wrong with me. _Nothing more than the usual_ , whispered my brain. I focused hard and pushed the past aside. I searched my surroundings for the source of my unease. And, there, I spotted it! The creature sat there staring at me with its disgusting reptilian eyes. It was watching me curiously, as though it had never seen one of my race. What a pathetic lie. The creature knew my species perfectly well. Its species had spent years butchering my people, raping our lands, murdering my - _No! It’s too much to bear!_

Finally breaking the unbearable silence, I spoke. “What are you staring at, beast?”

“Beast?” the revolting being said, “I see no beasts here, except for perhaps yourself, my friend.” He sniffed the air. “Is that your breath I smell? The alcohol is not becoming of you.”

“How can you smell anything past your stench, you monster?” I could barely contain my rage. At that moment, I was ready to hurl myself upon the containment field that was keeping me in my cell. Fortunately for me, Security Chief Odo chose that moment to walk into the detention area.

“Enjoying your stay?” he asked dryly.

“I would be, if it wasn’t for this _thing_ sharing the cell block with me.”

“Well, you’ll be pleased to know that your time is up,” Odo told me as he deactivated my cell’s holding field. The Cardassian watched us silently, taking everything in with his horrible eyes.

“It’s about time you let me out,” I drawled.

“Stay out of trouble for a day or two, will you?” he said as Major Kira Nerys, ranking Bajoran on the station, walked into the security office.

“I’ll do my best.” As I was walking towards the door, a new thought occurred to me. “Odo, let me know when you hang the Cardassian.”

***

I spent the next few days as I normally do, getting drunk at Quark’s. It can be rather fun, getting drunk. But more importantly, it’s hard to the remember the past with the liquor clouding your mind. I ordered another Romulan ale as I thought about what I had learned about out “guest.” He was, of course, a Cardassian. But not just any Cardassian. He had been at Gallitep. Gallitep Labor Camp… such an innocent name for such a horrible place. The place where they had taken my family. I had learned a small amount about the Nazi concentration camps of Earth’s distant past. But nothing I had heard about them could compare to the horrors of Gallitep. My wife and children had been taken there, never to return. I had spent months trying to learn what had happened to them, but had never found anything. And this Cardassian had been there. He participated in the atrocities. And he was enjoying the comforts of a Federation prison cell. The very thought made my blood boil. I became determined to take care of him.

***

An interesting twist… This wasn’t just any Cardassian. This wasn’t even any Cardassian who’d been at Gallitep. This was Gul Darhe’el. The gul had been _in charge_ of Gallitep. Now my plans solidified.

***

There he is. This is the moment, I see it now. This is the purpose of my existence, my life’s work. The Butcher of Gallitep has to be killed. I’m waiting at my usual spot at the bar. Here they come, they’re walking towards me. Why he’s out of his cell, I don’t know. They’re chatting with him as though he’s a friend. My resolve hardens. He will die. Here he comes, closer now, closer. And he’s past me. It’s time to make him pay for what he’s done. I run behind him, stabbing the butcher in the back. Amazingly, Kira, the Bajoran woman who had lost nearly as much as I had, seemed devastated, as though I had killed someone dear to here.

“Why? He wasn’t Darhe’el! Why?” she screams in my face.

I am shocked. For a split second, doubt flashes through my mind. _Not Darhe’el? I killed an innocent?_

But, just as quickly as it came, the doubt fled. No Cardassian was an innocent. They had murdered my family. They all deserved to die.

As Major Kira kneels, crying, by the Cardassian’s broken body, I stare uncomprehendingly.

“He’s a Cardassian. That’s reason enough!”

“No. It isn’t,” Kira sobbed.

As I was led away to the prison, I knew that I was right. There was no reason that Cardassian shouldn’t have been killed. Killing Cardassians, that was the only thing that was important. The only way to avenge my family.

Killing Cardassians - that’s my life’s work.


	2. Reason Enough

I woke up in a cell with a splitting headache, as usual. I could vaguely recall the brawl at Quark’s last night. I wasn’t sure what time of day it was, or even of the date. The only thing I knew for certain was that this wasn’t the first time I had woken up in this cell.

But this time, something was different. I heard voices coming from outside my cell. _Strange_ , I thought, _I’m usually alone._ I sat up and stared in the direction the voices were coming from, trying to get the world to come into focus.

“Now Commander, if you have no more questions, I’d like to be on my way.” The voice was male, and it belonged to one of the blurry figures in my field of vision. The figure seemed to be a Cardassian. But it couldn’t be… the had been driven away from Bajor. Hadn’t they?

“Am I still drunk, or am I in jail with a Cardassian?” I asked. “Odo! You’re not keeping me in here with one of those! Odo! Odo!” The second figure turned away from the Cardassian to face me, and I saw that it was a human, one of those Federation types.

“I put myself in your hands, Commander,” said the Cardassian. The Commander gave him a look, and then he left the room, leaving the Cardassian and I to stare at each other silently. The silence was broken by the sound of the door sliding open as Odo walked in.

“Good to see that you are both getting along so well,” said the shapeshifting constable. “I trust that it will stay that way.” He gave us our food and left.

***

Hours later, the Cardassian and I were still staring at each other. That face, those reptilian eyes… I wanted to look away, but I would _not_ let that monster win.

Suddenly the door slid open. It startled me, and I reflexively looked over. _Damn!_ The Cardassian smirked at me.

“I see you’ve made a new friend,” Odo said dryly as he walked through the now-open door. “Too bad it’s time for you to leave.” He turned off my cell’s holding field and led me through the door into the security office, where Major Kira was waiting for him.

“It’s about time you let me out,” I said.

“Try to stay out of trouble for a day or two, will you?” he said.

“I’ll do my best,” I answered. “Oh and Odo, let me know when you hang the Cardassian.”

***

From the security office, I went straight to Quark’s I had become something of a regular there over the past few weeks, and the Ferengi bartender knew me by sight.

“Ah, Kainon, isn’t it? What will you be having?” he asked.

“The usual,” I said. I waited for my drink, remembering my time in the cell. I could still feel the Cardassian’s eyes, mocking me, cold and dark.

“Something on your mind?” I looked up to see Quark, standing in front of me and holding my drink.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Oh come, come. You’re upset about something. A lost love, perhaps? I have a holosuite program that will cure you of that.” He held up a screen displaying the title _Vulcan Love Slave III_ , and gave me a lascivious wink.

“Maybe some other time,” I said. Quark looked disappointed, but left me my drink and moved away to serve a particularly noisy Lurian. I was left alone for the rest of the night, except when I ordered more drinks. I stayed at Quark’s until early morning, then I headed home. But as I was lying in bed, I couldn’t get to sleep. The Cardassian was still there, staring. I had to do something about it. I could not allow him to live, not when so many had died. With that thought in my head, I finally fell into an uneasy sleep.

***

For the next few days, I kept to my routine, waiting, I spent my afternoons and nights at Quark’s, and my mornings in my room. But through it all, I could not get the Cardassian out of my mind. He had to die.

While I sat at the bar, I overheard a great many rumors about the Cardassian. Depending on who you listened to, he was a simple file clerk, or a spy, or a saboteur sent to destroy Deep Space 9, or even Gul Darhe’el himself. I believed none of it, not that it mattered. I was going to kill him, no matter who he was. After all, he was a Cardassian. And that was reason enough.

***

He was released the next day. I had heard about it thanks to a loud conversation Quark was having with one of his customers. I was ready.

I waited at the bar. I knew he had to come past it. I stood and drank my ale, while the person next to me chattered on about some sort of nonsense. And then the Cardassian came out of the security office. He was being escorted by Major Kira and Constable Odo. The didn’t notice me has they walked past. That was my chance. I ran forward, and stabbed the Cardassian scum in the back, finally freeing myself from his staring eyes.

Odo immediately restrained me, of course, but it was too late for the Cardassian. I watched with satisfaction as he fell, gasping, to the floor, Kira grabbing on to him, as life left his eyes.

“Why?” she asked me. “He wasn’t Darhe’el. Why?”

And I told her, just as I’d told myself, “He’s a Cardassian. That’s reason enough.”

“No,” she said, “it’s not.”


End file.
